Students hear Obama tell them to study hard: 'No excuses'

Students in teacher Amy Hrin's eighth-grade English class at Woodland Park Middle School in San Marcos listen to President Barack Obama's nationwide speech to school kids on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009. At right are Fabian Esparza and Jessica Nikkel. (CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune)
— Charlie Neuman

Students in teacher Amy Hrin's eighth-grade English class at Woodland Park Middle School in San Marcos listen to President Barack Obama's nationwide speech to school kids on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009. At right are Fabian Esparza and Jessica Nikkel. (CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune)
— Charlie Neuman

SAN MARCOS – Study hard. Stop making excuses for not doing your homework. Strive for a college education. Don't get caught up with being a celebrity or a contestant on reality TV.

Those were some of the messages that eighth-graders in Amy Hrin's class at Woodland Park Middle School in San Marcos said they took from President Barack Obama's back-to-school address Tuesday morning.

Several classes watched Obama talk to students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., either over a Web cast or on a television. Some critics of the speech had complained that Obama would try to indoctrinate young people to support his views on health care and other social programs. Others had criticized the president for giving a speech on the hectic first day of school for many students.

The president's message, which lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, contained no political messages, and it gave students straightforward advice:

“We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems,” Obama said. If you don't do that – if you quit on school – you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.”

Jennifer Morales, 13, said the additional “no excuses” message in Obama's speech made a big impression.

“When teachers, like, ask you for your homework, you always say something stupid like, 'I forgot it,' ” Jennifer said. One way to avoid that uncomfortable encounter, of course, is to do the homework, she acknowledged.

Woodland Park Middle had begun classes last week, and San Marcos Unified School District had notified parents Thursday that their children would be pulled from classes showing the speech if the parents requested it. Most public school districts around the county also had offered parents the option to exclude their children from watching the speech.

By this morning, the parents of about 20 students at Woodland Park Middle – the school enrolls 1,400 – had opted out of listening to the speech, said Principal David Cochrane. They spent the time in the school's library or another place on campus.

Nearly all the students in Hrin's class said they didn't know that Obama had planned to address school children Tuesday morning.

After Obama's speech, Hrin asked her students to write a personal education goal, and what they'll do today to work toward achieving that goal, on a small card.

The students will keep the cards as bookmarks, to remind them daily of their long-term goals for doing well in school.